News from the Davises Dear Family and Friends, Nadolig Llawen!!! That's 'Merry Christmas' in Welsh! We are loving Wales, and enjoying the end of this exciting year, century, millenniumhere's a little recap of the past few months. The photo below was taken on the 14th of August this year, when Daniel and I were married! The preparations, the ceremony, the reception, - EVERYTHING was perfect. They were exactly what we hoped they would be - a great time with our friends and family and just a wonderful chance to reflect on how God has cared for us in our relationship these past few years, and to commit to each other for the many years to come through his grace! Thank you to those who travelled far and wide to come. And thank you to SO MANY of you who helped us with all the practicalities too! On September 16th we arrived in Aberystwyth and moved into our little mobile home. It suits us perfectly! At the top of the list of its attributes is its warmth! No small thing in this COLD country. It has also been well furnished with your wonderful wedding presents! We have had so much fun having people round for dinners, games of scrabble, tea and pie, etc. About a week after we arrived in Aber, the Christian Union at the University here welcomed us and other international students, with British Food Nights, Bonfires and Games, They have continued to take good care of us this term, and we have made some good friends. They're doing a great job at this college - praying every Wednesday, both for the campus and for the world, holding 'Tea and Toasts' periodically to meet people leaving the clubs and bars, and just generally being great at reaching out to people. We've been really impressed! Daniel is adjusting very well to studying in Britain. As it turns out, a lot of the History Dept. here are on leave this year, so he has been taking some classes in International Politics as well as History. His classes for this term end next week and then he'll have his exams after Christmas. Overall, it's been laid back - a lot of reading and some essays, but not nearly as much time spent actually in class as in the states. As for me, I worked temporarily, while I was looking for something more permanent, and on the 13th of December, I will start my new job! I will be working part time as a nursing assistant on the Elderly Mentally Ill and Adult Acute Psychiatric Wards at Bronglais hospital. The hospital is only about 5 minute's walk from our house, which is great, and it should also be good practice for nursing, which I am hoping to start studying once we're back in the states. After a lot of searching, we have recently settled into a church called St. David's. It has a good mix of families, young people and older people J, and they have been great about welcoming us. We hope to become more involved there as we continue attending, and see opportunities arise! Well, we wish you all could be here, but since you can't we figured that we would give you as best a pictorial guide as our poor computer skills and limited printing capabilities could provide. Merry Christmas to all of you and God Bless your new year! This is the view of Aberystwyth from Constitution Hill. It is taken facing south, down the coast of Wales. To the right (the West) you are supposedly able to see Ireland on a clear day, and although we have tried and tried, and almost went blind trying to prove this, we still have not seen it. Our house is off to the left of this photo, over the hill (in the bottom corner) and through the woods (and I am speaking literally.) There are a great many public footpaths here in Wales, which wind through the patches of old broadleaf forest, and over the lush green hills speckled with sheep. Jen and I make use of the paths whenever it is warm enough. The hollow shown in this picture is a very nice part of the forest in Parc Natur Penglais, a forest not far from our home. This is Aberystwyth Castle. It is almost 400 years old, and is in pretty rough shape, as it was used as a quarry after it fell into disuse. It is well venerated and preserved these days, and it is nice to live in a town with a castle in it. The town of Aberystwyth is very compact, the buildings are joined together in long rows, which for the British might not be very interesting, but since we find it special we thought you might too. This is a view from the path that we walk down to get into town. Finally, this is our little mobile home. It keeps us nice and warm, and we are greatly looking forward to our first married Christmas!!! May God bless yours as well. Love, The Davises